Reopening K-12 schools mixes rigidity with flexibility

WEST PLAINS – School districts in Washington finally received some guidance on resuming in-person operations this fall with the release of the state’s “Reopening Washington Schools 2020: District Planning Guide” on June 11.

The guidelines are a mixture of rigidity and flexibility, but are focused on one single goal expressed by state K-12 Superintendent for Public Instruction Chris Reykdal in his letter at the beginning of the report.

“To be very clear, it is my expectation that schools will open this fall for in-person instruction,” Reykdal wrote.

How that will look is left in the hands of school districts, who must meet stringent and defined requirements for preventing spread of the coronavirus and the disease it carries, COVID-19. Some of those measures include a vigorous process for regularly sanitizing facilities, monitoring and testing of students and staff health, steps for returning to school for those who recover from a bout with the disease, social distancing and use of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks.

Districts must also meet instructional requirements. Districts will be tasked to meet the basic requirements of 180 days and 1,027 hours of instruction, restored regular attendance, grading and meeting all state and federal learning standards and assessments — requirements that were relaxed as part of measures enacted this year to deal with COVID-19.

Both Cheney and Medical Lake school districts have initiated that process through asking parents and students to fill out online surveys. MLSD Superintendent Tim Ames said their surveys went online soon after the state’s requirements were released, with Cheney Superintendent Rob Roettger saying their survey’s were being released this week.

Next steps will be to review the public input with a district reopening committee. Roettger said Cheney plans to expand the current committee formed June 12 to include teachers, employees, parents, students and community members.

So far, one of the biggest areas of pushback from people submitting survey’s is on the state guidelines requiring the use of masks for all students and staff, volunteers and guests at schools. Ames said some respondents have been angry about this requirement.

The guidelines — which were put together by a large, state-wide work group along several smaller groups — provide examples of class scheduling for a mixture of in-person and online learning. One would utilize a split or rotating class schedule while the other would implement a phased schedule by bringing in students based on geographical location or grade level.

The schedules are designed around maintaining health departments’ recommendations to maintain six-foot social distancing to help prevent disease spread. To meet this in a classroom setting, desks and other items would need to spaced accordingly, requiring the use of additional classrooms.

To see how this would work, Roettger said principals in each of the district’s eight buildings are setting up two classrooms according to the state standards.

“Although we have maps of our buildings and can calculate space, we want to physically see what a classroom could look like in each building as we plan,” he said in an email.

To help with PPEs, Northeast Education Service District 101 in Spokane is organizing a purchasing cooperative school districts can join to purchase the equipment. Both Medical Lake and Cheney issued Chromebooks to support students’ remote learning that went into effect after schools were closed on March 16, and plan to assess that inventory to determine future needs.

Districts are required to have their reopening plans submitted to the state’s Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction at least two weeks before fall instruction begins, with the report recognizing that there is no one-size fits all plan. Cheney is hoping to have its plan ready for community presentation early in August, recognizing things could change depending on increases or decreases in the spread of COVID-19.

“I think the key is to plan for a safe on-site reopening in the fall within the guidance and requirements and to plan for continued remote learning support if there is another school closure,” Roettger said. “Continued remote learning will also be necessary to support students who may not be able to safely attend school due to health concerns and students/families who are not comfortable returning on-site at this time.”

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].